Find Human Resources expertise in United Republic of Tanzania

The official languages in Tanzania are Kiswahili and English and some 120 languages and dialects are spoken in the country. The adult literacy rate stood at 73% in 2010 and 9% of children were in tertiary education in the same year.

The country’s labour force is mainly employed in the agriculture and fisheries sector with 73% of the force involved in the industry in 2006. Service workers and shop and market sales workers are the next most common (10%) followed by elementary occupations (8%), craft and related workers (5%), technicians and associate professionals (2%), professionals (1%) and plant and machine operators and assemblers (1%).

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is responsible for formulating and monitoring labour and employment policies and national employment policy amongst other things. One associated agency is the Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA) under the Vocational Education and Training Act (1994) which aims to develop a competitive workforce through effective vocational training.

The Tanzania Global Learning Agency (TAGLA) is a key government training and education body which aims to improve government services by training middle and senior management in managerial skills.

The Tanzania Employment Services Agency (TESA) and Radar Recruitment are some examples of leading employment agencies in Tanzania

Work permits are required for foreigners working in the country and are categorised as Class A for self-employed foreign investors, Class B for foreign employees and Class C for missionaries and students. Class B permits are issued by the Labour Department and Class A and C permits through the Director of Immigration Services.

The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013) lists several indicators of employment and human resources trends in the country.

Relations between workers and employers in Tanzania are characterised as moderately confrontational with a score of 3.4 out of 7 where 1 is generally confrontational and 7 is generally cooperative for cooperation in labour-employer relations. This is below the world mean of 4.3 and ranks the country 100th out of 144 countries worldwide.

Workers in Tanzania receive pay which is only moderately related to their productivity with a score of 3.6 out of 7, below the world mean of 3.9, where 7 indicates a strong relation between the two. This ranks the country in 103rd out of 144 countries worldwide.

Hiring and firing practices are mostly determined by employers although there is appreciable influence of regulations which to some extent impedes the process. Tanzania scores 4.0 out of 7 where 1 indicates that hiring and firing practices are impeded by regulations and 7 means that their flexibility is determined by employers. This is above the world mean of 3.9 and puts Tanzania in 70th place out of 144 countries.

The female participation in the labour force is progressing towards equality with a ratio of 1:0.99 of men to women. Tanzania is more likely to lose talented and bright individuals to employment overseas than to attract foreign workers to its shores. It scores 3.1 out of 7 where 1 means that their ability to attract and retain bright workers is low and 7 means that there are many attractive opportunities for talented people in the country. This is below the world mean of 3.5 and ranks Tanzania 94th out of 144 countries surveyed.